BRT routes lure investors, says London developer

Coun. Jesse Helmer stands before one of the old buildings on the massive London Psychiatric Hospital site, where city officials envision a mixed use development with residential towers and home to transit stations for the bus rapid transit system. (NORM DEBONO/THE LONDON FREE PRESS)

London’s bus rapid transit system is already attracting investment along its proposed routes, a prominent local developer says.

While light rail rapid transit (LRT) in other communities has been credited with drawing major building projects along its lines, the proposed BRT system here will also see highrise and commercial plazas springing up along its routes, said Ali Soufan, president of York Developments, one of London’s busiest developers.

“A good site is a good site, but BRT accentuates the investment moving forward and gives us confidence it will be a desirable location for folks who want to use public transit,” said Soufan.

York bought the mall at the southeast corner of Oxford Street and Wonderland Road, where the former Sears outlet mall was located, about two years ago and plans a mixed-use development, meaning it may have commercial, office and a residential tower.

That intersection is where the west line for the BRT system will end.

York is also developing a downtown highrise on King Street, also along the BRT route.

“I think BRT will help investment along its major links and transit villages and it will spur development. Developers will look at those links as a priority for development,” Soufan said.

Rapid transit supporters note the system is not really about moving people — it’s a city-building tool designed to draw development along its lines, rather than continue with more expensive sprawl at the city’s edges. Developers love the permanence of rail lines, a guarantee bus lanes don’t offer, but Soufan suggests BRT is still a draw.

London is looking at dedicated lanes with transit stations along it, and the more permanent the features of the system, the more it will attract builders, he added.

“People will live in areas with convenient access to transit and amenities. Good traffic patterns and a convenient way of moving people around are ingredients to a successful development,” Soufan said.

Recently, London development firm Drewlo Holdings announced plans to build two residential highrise towers in downtown Kitchener, on its light rail rapid transit line. That LRT development has been credited with attracting $3 billion in investment since it construction started in 2011 — and the Kitchener-Waterloo trains aren’t even running yet.

York Region, the Toronto suburb, boasts an extensive bus rapid transit system and has found development and building is being drawn to the line, said Paul May, a vice-president for the region’s rapid transit corporation.

He was recently in London speaking to city officials about the service and said research points to BRT having a significant impact on development.

“We don’t see it as the poor cousin of LRT. There is a lot of development happening in the corridors. BRT can definitely work, it has a lot of flexibility. In York Region it works well,” he said.

York Region has seen 1.3 million square feet of office space built since 2013, and much of it in the transit corridor is leased. A report from the region also states 17 per cent of its residents use transit as their primary way of getting around.

But some London builders, speaking off the record, agree the BRT corridor will see development — but only because the city planning department has designated areas along it for high density. That means if you want to build a highrise, it has to be along the BRT route.

“It’s social engineering, the city will force it in those areas,” one developer said.

But, he added, there is little developable land along some routes, such as Wellington Road and Richmond Street north. Areas that are available along BRT routes, such as east London, are not in demand.

Coun. Jesse Helmer wanted an LRT system when the matter was being debated by city council in 2016. But he is ready to embrace the bus-only option chosen by his political colleagues and sees it as benefiting his east London riding.

“We can still get infill and redevelopment with BRT, as long as we have it running on dedicated lanes and if it is high-quality transit,” Helmer said.

He points to the former London Psychiatric Hospital lands on Highbury Avenue, about 100 acres that will be near a station, as ripe for building “hundreds or even thousands of homes,” he said.

“I would have loved to have light rail, but we can’t go back now, we have to go with BRT as much as we can. That’s responsible.”

Coun. Maureen Cassidy has been an enthusiastic supporter of BRT, and is not surprised building will be drawn along the routes.

“I think we will see the same investment here, a lot of the infrastructure with BRT is permanent and that is what developers are looking for,” said Cassidy.

“They want stability, that routes will not be changed on a whim.”

The $500-million BRT system will cost city hall $130 million, with the balance needed from Ottawa and Queen’s Park. So far, the province has chipped in $170 million. A light rail/BRT hybrid system would have cost nearly $900-million.

City council decided to opt for BRT only in 2016, dropping the rail component originally envisioned to run between downtown and Masonville Place mall.

The light rail system in Kitchener-Waterloo, expected to begin service this year, was more than $800 million and Hamilton’s similar system, not yet built, is about $1 billion.

The London BRT system will run from a downtown station, south along Wellington Road to White Oaks Mall, north to Masonville Place, east to Fanshawe College and west to Oxford and Wonderland.

“BRT alone will not be a magic ingredient,” Soufan added. “You need a combination of investors and developers ready to risk proceeding with development in a certain corridor. It will be the focus of investment for the short- to mid-term when developers are considering where to build large scale projects.”

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